The Reason
by Sonny.With.A.Firefly
Summary: Maybe there was a reason this secret was tearing her friendships apart. Maybe it was separating the good from the bad. Maybe she just deserved it. (Major trigger warnings for later chapters.)


**This is super short and isn't all of the first chapter, but I don't have much time left in this class to write the rest, and I won't have internet access all weekend, so I wanted to put this up to see if anyone's interested. Hopefully you guys like it!**

**Chapter One, Part One:**

"Hello, Tori." Tristan's voice was nonchalant – a little too nonchalant – but his grin gave away his excitement. Tori played dumb, shooting him an equally casual greeting. He let out an exasperated sigh. "Come on, Tor. Your first high school party! And with your boyfriend, no less! How did it go? Was it great? Tell me everything!"

Her wide grin wavered for a moment, but she plastered on a smirk to satiate him. "I wouldn't exactly say I was with Zig – he was performing almost the whole time," she muttered. "I saw him for, like, five minutes during one of his breaks."

"Ouch," Tristan said, his face crinkling into his familiar sympathetic expression. It didn't make her feel better. "Well, that certainly wasn't the highlight of your night, but it couldn't have been all bad, right? Tell me more!"

"Could we talk about this later?" she asked. Her tone came out harsher than she'd intended, so she balanced it with a soft smile. "At your place, maybe? I have tons to tell you, but class is starting, and I really need to bring up my grade. Je t'aime!" she called as her goodbye as he shuffled off to his seat. One last fleeting smile for good measure, then she ducked to hide behind her dark curls and groaned to herself. She didn't know if she had the guts to tell Tristan the truth, but she was going to have to find them.

* * *

"IhadsexwithLuke." The words tumbled out of her mouth in a barely-comprehensible whisper, but if the way Tristan leapt from his spot on his bed was any indication, he understood.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" he half-yelled, the pitch of his voice almost rivaling hers, "Because I could have sworn you just said –"

"I had sex with Luke." This time, her words were clearer, louder, but they still felt like razor blades and tasted like acid.

Tristan's outstretched hands shook as he ogled here. When he spoke, he spoke with trepidation and disgust. "You fornicated with Luke Baker?" He shuddered and shook himself out. "Just the thought is giving me cooties! What were you thinking, Tori? No, don't answer that. I do not want to know. But, Tori, what about Zig?"

Tori cringed. "I…" She trailed off, and she wasn't sure she even wanted to finish this sentence. "I've been thinking that maybe Zig and I need some time apart. Maybe, in some weird way, this was… for the best." She gulped, wishing she could erase the words from her mouth.

"Oh, yeah?" She started to nod grudgingly, but it was clear from Tristan's deeply offended expression that that wasn't the response he was looking for. He stepped closer to her as he continued. "How could you do this to me? After what he did to me, I can't believe you'd even associate with him, let alone do – that."

Tori let her head fall into her hands and took a shaky breath, then slowly rose from the bed so they were standing face to face. "Tris, you have to believe me. I wasn't trying to hurt you or Zig or anyone, I just –"

"Just what?" Tristan asked, his voice sharp as a dagger. "What could your motivation for this possibly be, Tori?" She couldn't answer. "Get out," he said.

"What?" she asked incredulously as the first tears came. "You can't be serious."

"I can, and I am," he replied, "Get out."

The room seemed to spin as Tori stood in the middle, stunned. Not ten seconds later, she was being ushered out with Tristan's angry grip. The door slammed shut behind her. With no other choice, Tori began to shuffle down the hallway, hoping to save the worst of the tears until she was out of the house.

"Tori? Where are you rushing off to?" Tori snapped her head to the side to find Owen watching her from his bedroom. He wore the familiar playful smirk he always had around her, but he dropped it when he saw the tears on her cheeks. He was up from his bed and standing in the doorway within seconds. "Hey, are you okay? You and Tris get in a fight or something?"

A bitter laugh escaped Tori's throat, but it turned into more of a sob. "You could say that," she whispered.

Owen reached over to wipe the tears from her cheeks. "Hey, don't cry," he said softly, "Just go back and talk to him, I'm sure it'll be fine." She shook her head, but she couldn't find the words to express that she really just didn't think it would be. She leaned into Owen's shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around her protectively. "He'll come around," he murmured as he pulled away.

"Thank you," Tori said, starting to turn away, but not before Owen brushed his lips lightly across her cheek. She could feel the blush creeping up onto her face. She hid behind her hair as she shuffled toward the front door.


End file.
